DN Academy

DocNomads Academy is an umbrella label that encompasses different activities, events and special courses which are implemented externally to the curriculum in the semesters of DocNomads mobile school, although aiming to enlarge its educational objectives and provide a supportive platform for DocNomads community.

DN Academy includes special courses fostered by initiative of the Academic Board, such as the “Academy Seminars” held annually in February, also activities promoted in cooperation with partner schools, such as the “Summer Schools” in July, or in association with DocNomads alumni, such as the “Alumni Event” held in February.

Alumni Event of 2023

The Alumni Event, which is a major staple of the thematic activities organized at Budapest in the transition between curricular semesters of enrolled classes, this year presented a selection of eight documentary projects in development or in production that displayed some of the current professional endeavours of graduated students from DocNomads program.

Once more, this event attracted a great number of DocNomads alumni converging to Budapest for an occasion of reunion, complemented by the preceding showcase of the films recently completed by the current students in their 1st and 3rd curricular semesters.

Filming On the Edge

The fourth thematic seminar of DocNomads Academy was held at the conference hall of Premier Kultcafé in Budapest under the overarching topic “Filming On the Edge - Making Films in Dictatorships, Riots, and War Zones – Ethical and Practical Questions of a Filmmaker”.

Roman Bondarchuk and Alba Sotorra were invited to present their films Ukrainian Sheriffs (2015) and Commander Aria (2018) followed by masterclasses in which these directors shared insights on their filmmaking methods, ethical decisions, challenging choices, and life-changing experiences while filming in regions stormed by the events of war.

Alumni Event of 2022

The Alumni Event, after the hiatus of a year (2021) due to the pandemic, was resumed this year in Budapest with the presentation of eight documentary projects either in development, in production or in post-production, which displayed some of the current professional endeavours of former students from DocNomads. The session was complemented by two special screenings and Q&A with the directors, also DocNomads alumni.

This year’s event gathered the students of the currently enrolled classes and a great number of DocNomads alumni, who also attended the screenings in Tában cinema theatre of the films made in the just completed 1st and 2nd curricular semesters.

Documentary Filmmaking in the Age of Digital Interface (2022)

The third thematic seminar of DocNomads Academy was held at the conference hall of Premier Kultcafé in Budapest under the overarching topic “Documentary Filmmaking in the Age of Digital Interface – When Documentary and Technology Converge” with guest lecturers external to DocNomads staff.

Ana Brzezińska, a senior producer of immersive documentary and virtual reality projects, also curator of events and exhibitions, presented her masterclass “Introduction to Spatial Storytelling and Immersive Technology”.

Sara Božanić, a transmedia design and audiences’ engagement expert and consultant, based in Slovenia, presented the lecture “Brave New Narratives” to examine how documentary filmmakers can utilise new mass media formats, and narratives, to activate alterity and challenge/influence audiences’ interactions, which was complemented by a workshop for the participants.

Alumni Event of 2020

The Alumni Event, which already became a prominent feature amidst the thematic activities organized in Budapest at the moment of the gathering of the current enrolled classes in the transition between curricular semesters, also became a customary occasion for a reunion with the growing number of DocNomads alumni.

As one of the most participated Alumni Event since its inception in 2016, this year’s event counted with the attendance of students and alumni representing the whole 8 classes of DocNomads programme up to date.

When Doc and Fiction Merge (2020)

The second thematic seminar of DocNomads Academy was held for two days at the conference hall of Premier Kultcafé in Budapest under the overarching topic “The Thin Blue Line between Documentary and Fiction – When Documentary and Fiction Merge”.

The seminar was lectured by guest participants external to DocNomads staff, namely Filip Remunda a Czech director and producer, co-founder of the Institute of Documentary Film and one of the leading tutors at the Ex Oriente Film workshop, who presented his masterclass “The Docu-mentaly Trip from Czech Dream to Once Upon a Time in Poland”, and Sergey Dvortsevoy, a renowned Russian- Kazakh filmmaker working in both fiction and documentary film projects, who presented “The Art of Improvisation in Documentary and Fiction Film”, a masterclass to illustrate how reality and fiction collide in his filmmaking methods. Péter Kerekes, member of DocNomads Academic Board, served as the seminar moderator, and as film director and producer lectured his own masterclass titled “Using Documentary Methods in Fiction Film – Border between Reality and Reality in the Prison of Odessa”.

Academy Seminars

The Academy Seminars aim at expanding the boundaries of the regular curricular programme of DocNomads by focusing on thematic lectures, masterclasses and workshops held in February of each year, by when two cohorts of DocNomads students are congregated in Budapest.

Storytelling Seminar (2019)

The first Academy Seminar organized by DocNomads out of its regular curriculum was held for two days at the conference hall of Premier Kultcafé in Budapest.

The seminar was lectured by guest participants external to DocNomads faculty, namely Ildikó Enyedi, a renowned Hungarian film director and screenwriter whose film “Body and Soul” recently won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale; Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz, one of the most prolific Polish documentary filmmakers who is also a professor at Łódz Film School; and Susan Brand, an editor and edit consultant with twenty years of experience in broadcast and independent film. John Burgan, himself a writer, director, editor and lecturer served as the seminar guest moderator.

Summer Schools

DocNomads Summer Schools are held between the 2nd and 3rd semesters of the Master, and aim at fostering ways of active cooperation with non-European partner film schools by bringing together expertise and pedagogic methods of both parties in order to provide an intensive collective experience of teamwork between small groups of students from both schools, which beyond of an additional learning opportunity is intended to result in a memorable multicultural exchange for all participants.

These activities always take place in local settings proposed by the host schools and chosen by its potential to inspire filmwork approaches. Students conjointly do fieldwork on location, find subjects to develop projects and then produce completed short films to be screened before a local audience, all of these tasks carried out within a period of up to two weeks. Teachers from both schools also cooperate to exchange knowledge and experiences whilst supervising the projects’ development and its production by their students.

Georgia, July - August 2019

The second Summer School was held in Khulo, located in the mountains of Ajara region, South Georgia, which was organized as a 10 day-long workshop of documentary filmmaking in cooperation with TAFU - Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Georgia State University.

Students of TAFU and DocNomads worked in mixed groups to create 4 films of around 10’ under a tight schedule of about 3 days to research a subject, 4 days to shoot and 2 days to edit the cuts that were screened on the last day.

Lebanon, July 2018

The first Summer School was held in Ehden, a remote location in the mountain’s region of Lebanon, to what became a pilot venture in cooperation with the School of Cinema and Audiovisual Directing of ALBA-UOB Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts, Beirut.

Alumni Event

The Alumni Event, since its inception in 2016, has become along the years a steadily established initiative amidst the activities carried out in early February by when two cohorts of DocNomads students are gathered in Budapest.

This event is supported by the Academic Board and organized in association with alumni of DocNomads, in view to sustain a live forum of ideas’ exchange between peers of the growing DocNomads community.

Graduated students come to this event to meet fellow Nomads and share experiences of their professional endeavours, or to showcase current projects in production or seeking for collaboration, or to present partnership initiatives developed through independent platforms and ventures, often co-founded with fellow alumni.

Alumni Event of 2019

10 FEBRUARY, SUNDAY
18:00-22:00

PREMIER KULTCAFE, CONFERENCE HALL

Moderator: PETER KEREKES (Member of the Academic Board)

Newsletters

DocNomads issued 6 numbers of the DNA Newsletter between the Spring of 2016 and the Fall of 2018, which became the first series of newsletters distributed amidst the DocNomads network of students, alumni, scholars, collaborators and affiliates, wishing to contribute to strengthen a communication channel between people currently and formerly participating in the programme, and also external people interested in following DocNomads activities.

Within its editorial line, the varied content of the first series of these newsletters included info of broad interest, spanning from giving notice of new activities within the programme, to sharing news about the professional lives of alumni, to spotlighting perspectives about relevant industry topics and other emerging issues related to documentary filmmaking.

A new series of DocNomads Newsletter in updated format is being prepared for quarterly release, which launching is expected to happen until the end of this year. In the meantime, we make the archived numbers of the first series available to the public, which can be viewed from below.